TOKAY  VINEYARD, 


NEAR 


FAYETTEVILLE,   N.C. 


WITH 


ESSAY    ON    GRAPE-CULTURE 


BY    THE    PROPRIETOR. 


9 


TOKAY  VINEYARD, 


NEAR 


FAYETTEVILLE,   N.C. 


WITH 


ESSAY   ON   GRAPE-CULTURE 


BY    THE    PROPRIETOR. 


SRCfi 
URL' 


FAYETTEYILLE,    N,C, 


IF  one-half  of  what  has  been  said  and  published  in  praise  of 
this  now  celebrated  spot  and  its  products,  by  the  press  and 
by  visitors  generally,  were  collated  in  book-form,  it  would  make  a 
good-sized  volume. 

Such  is  foreign  to  the  purpose.  But  the  writer  may  be  par- 
doned for  culling  a  few  of  the  many  compliments  and  compli- 
mentary descriptions  so  literally  showered  upon  them. 

Curtailing  that  which  is  purely  personal,  he  presents  below  a 
part  of  an  article  from  "  The  Wine  and  Fruit  Grower  "  (published 
in  New  York)  of  February,  1883. 

"  TOKAY  VINEYARD.  —  Tokay  Vineyard  is  situated  three  miles 
and  a  half  north  of  Fayetteville,  N.C.  It  is  said  to  be  the 
largest  single  vineyard  this  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  ;  and, 
speaking  after  a  personal  inspection,  we  pronounce  it  one  of  the 
loveliest  locations  that  can  be  found  anywhere  on  the  continent. 
Such  is  the  concurrent  testimony  of  almost  all  visitors. 

"  Situated  on  a  broad,  undulating  tableland  on  the  Cape  Fear 
River,  some  two  hundred  feet  above  its  ordinary  level,  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  above  the  rich  alluvial  plantations  on  the 
opposite  bank,  the  eye  takes  in  a  semicircular  horizon  of  twenty 
odd  miles  in  radius. 

"  Nature  has  done  much  for  it,  art  more.  With  upwards  of  one 
hundred  acres  in  bearing  vines,  which  is  being  rapidly  extended 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


from  year  to  year,  and  every  thing  kept  as  neat  and  trim  as  a 
lady's  flower-garden,  with  its  young  orchards  of  choice  fruits,  fish- 
ponds, numerous  springs  of  the  purest  water,  and  running  brooks, 
it  is,  simply  as  a  thing  of  beauty,  utility  being  left  out  of  the 
account,  well  worth  a  day's  journey  to  behold. 

"But  its  hospitable  proprietor  has  blended  the  utile  et  dulce 
in  harmonious  whole,  and  all  around  betokens  a  refined  taste 
combined  with  an  eye  to  the  end. 

"  He  is  an  enthusiast  in  his  vocation,  both  on  moral  and  eco- 
nomic grounds  ;  and  his  highest  ambition  seems  to  be,  that  he 
may  hereafter  be  the  accredited  pioneer  of  an  industry  which 
he  is  sanguine  is  destined  at  an  early  day  to  be  the  leading  one 
of  his  State. 

"In  his  estimate  of  adaptability  —  latitudinal,  climatic,  and 
meteorologic  —  he  concurs  in  the  opinion  of  the  celebrated  Nicho- 
las Longworth  of  Cincinnati  (the  true  father  of  viticulture  in 
America),  that  North  Carolina  is  the  natural  habitat  of  the  vine, 
and  the  normal  vineyard  of  the  Western  World.  With  a  courage 
and  a  will  deserving  of  success,  he  proposes  to  prove  it.  If  he 
does  it,  the  two-blades-of-grass  hero,  or  he  who  is  capable  of  com- 
manding a  hundred  thousand  men,  is  distanced  in  the  race  of 
public  benefaction. 

"  That  vine-growing  is  destined  at  an  early  day  to  assume  the 
proportions  which  it  has  long  maintained  in  the  older  world  as 
its  leading  industry,  none  can  doubt  who  are  cognizant  of  the 
ravages  of  the  tiny  insect  termed  phylloxera,  more  dreaded  by 
the  vine-planter  than  an  army  with  banners. 

"  The  native  American  wine-grapes  are  proof  against  the  scourge, 
at  least  those  of  the  astivalis  class.  ' Tokay'  is  planted  almost 
exclusively  of  varieties  of  that  family,  numbering  some  thirty  or 
forty  altogether,  including  the  Scuppernong  and  its  offshoots  (the 
Meisch,  Flowers,  etc.),  the  Norton,  Cynthiana,  Hermann,  Martha, 


TOKAY    VIMEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


Delaware,  Ives,  Cottage,  Telegraph,  Champion,  Rulander,  Herbe- 
mont,  Concord,  etc.  ;  naming  the  last  in  the  order  of  merit,  as 
adapted  to  the  soil  and  climate  of  the  place. 

"  Col.  Green  fully  indorses  all  that  has  been  said  in  praise  of  the 
Norton  and  Cynthiana,  and  pronounces  them  the  finest  red-wine 
grapes  in  the  world.  Such  was  the  award  at  the  Vienna,  and  at 
the  Paris  Exposition  they  received  very  high  commendation. 

"The  wine-product  for  the  season  before  the  last  was  about 
twenty-five  thousand  gallons.  With  an  equally  favorable  one  this 
year,  the  proprietor  is  sanguine  that  the  yield  will  exceed  forty 
thousand  gallons,  owing  to  increased  growth  of  the  older  vines, 
and  acreage  in  new  ones.  His  cellars  have  a  storage-capacity  of 
fifty  or  sixty  thousand,  and  are  now  about  half  full.  These  wines 
have  been  pronounced  by  Dr.  Sayre  of  New  York,  Dr.  Gardiner 
of  the  army,  and  other  high  authorities,  the  finest  native  wines 
they  ever  drank.  They  have  been  awarded  the  gold  medals  and 
all  the  first  premiums,  at  four  last  State  fairs,  and  three  first  at 
Atlanta. 

"The  dwelling  is  a  large,  commodious,  and  comfortable  struc- 
ture, with  little  pretension  to  architectural  elegance,  but  well 
adapted  to  the  use  of  a  gentleman  of  active  business-habits. 

"  It  is  lighted  with  gas  made  on  the  place,  and  supplied  with 
pure  spring  water  by  means  of  a  steam  pump  half  a  mile  off. 
The  proprietor  is  an  enthusiastic  disciple  of  Izaak  Walton,  and 
has  four  or  five  ponds  well  stocked  with  the  most  approved  varie- 
ties of  fish. 

"  Besides  the  vineyard  proper,  there  are  about  seven  hundred 
acres  additional,  with  a  fine  saw-mill  attached  to  the  place,  belong- 
ing to,  and  forming  part  of,  the  plantation." 

"  THE  WINES  OF  TOKAY.  —  It  may  not  be  amiss  in  this  sketch 
to  take  a  critical  look  at  the  wines  produced  at  this  vineyard. 
Indeed,  it  will  doubtless  be  expected  that  a  thorough  and  truthful 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


criticism  should  be  passed  upon  them,  to  round  it  off  and  give  it 
real  value. 

"  Before  entering  upon  this,  we  remark  that  what  is  said  of  these 
wines  must  apply,  so  far  as  general  principles  and  characteristics 
are  concerned,  to  the  wines  of  the  whole  South,  and  will  most 
likely  be  taken  in  many  quarters  as  an  authoritative  exposition  of 
the  relative  character  and  value  of  these  wines.  We  therefore  feel 
that  a  just  regard  for  the  interest  of  so  large  a  portion  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  correlative  interests  of  other  portions,  requires  of  us 
considerable  circumspection  and  caution  in  setting  up  what  ought 
to,  and  must  if  true,  stand  as  historical  facts  upon  the  viticulture 
of  such  portion. 

"  To  begin,  therefore,  we  observe  that  the  wines  made  at  Tokay 
vineyards  are  of  a  dual  character.  The  red  and  white  wines  made 
from  the  grapes  that  flourish  in  the  States  farther  north  are  to 
be  found  here  in  perfection  ;  because  the  long  and  hot  season 
secures  a  full  ripening  of  the  fruit,  carrying  the  must  up  to  a  high 
degree,  thereby  insuring  sufficient  saccharine  matter  to  produce 
the  requisite  quantity  of  alcohol  without  the  addition  of  sugar. 

"Of  this  class,  the  Norton  and  Cynthiana,  the  Delaware  and 
Martha,  etc.,  constitute  the  bulk.  As  these  wines  are  well  known 
to  everybody,  we  need  only  add  that  nearly  one-half  the  vine- 
yards are  taken  up  by  these  vines,  and  chiefly  by  the  two  first ; 
also  that  the  new  plantings  are  almost  wholly  made  of  these 
varieties. 

"Of  the  other  class  —  the  Scuppernong,  and  its  children  the 
Flowers  and  Meisch,  constituting  an  entirely  distinct  and  widely 
different  group,  peculiar  to  the  States  south  of  the  thirty-sixth 
parallel  of  north  latitude  —  an  extremely  interesting  essay  might 
be  written,  and  indeed,  to  do  it  justice,  much  more  than  we  can 
crowd  into  this  brief  sketch. 

"The  natural  home  of  this  grape  is  in  all  the  seacoast  States 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    H.C. 


from  North  Carolina  to  Texas,  including  Arkansas  and  Mississippi. 
It  seems  to  prefer  the  sandy  coast-lands,  though  it  flourishes  mag- 
nificently on  any  good  cotton-land.  It  was  discovered  on  Roanoke 
Island  three  hundred  years  ago,  where  the  original  vine  —  covering 
more  than  an  acre  of  arbor,  and  bearing  fruit  enough  yearly  to 
make  from  two  thousand  to  twenty-five  hundred  gallons  of  wine  — 
is  still  living.  It  is  said  the  first  wine  made  on  this  continent  was 
made  from  this  vine. 

"  Tokay  Vineyards,  at  the  time  Col.  Green  purchased  the  prop- 
erty, had  about  sixty  acres  of  these  vines  in  bearing ;  viz.,  Scup- 
pernong,  Flowers,  and  Meisch.  These  were  trained  in  the  usual 
way  prevalent  throughout  the  Southern  States,  on  arbors,  and 
have  produced  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  thousand  gallons  of  wine 
yearly  since. 

"  The  wines  as  prepared  at  the  Tokay  cellars  are  the  Dry  Red 
and  Dry  White,  and  Sweet  Red  and  Sweet  White,  and  are  so 
denominated. 

"  In  general  characteristics  they  resemble  the  Spanish  and 
Madeira  wines  ;  and  the  Sweet  White  is  not  unlike  the  California 
Mission,  though  much  more  delicate  in  bouquet,  and,  when  given 
proper  age,  approaches  the  closest  to  a  fine  old  Madeira  of  any 
wine  yet  produced  in  this  country.  This  wine  will  constitute  a 
good  basis  for  a  sherry  wine  when  made  with  that  view ;  and  we 
have  seen  some  samples  of  such  from  these  vineyards  which 
strongly  resembled  Old  Brown  Sherry,  and  would  do  credit  to 
any  gentleman's  sideboard  and  private  cellar.  Other  samples, 
again,  made  from  the  Flowers,  —  a  black  Scuppernong  seedling, 
—  as  a  dry  wine,  resemble  certain  red  wines  of  Hungary  already 
highly  esteemed  in  this  country,  and  as  a  sweet  wine  bears  a  close 
relation  in  character  to  Spanish  Red. 

"  The  manner  of  handling  these  wines  at  Tokay,  under  the  able 
management  of  the  superintendent,  Mr.  McBuie,  is  careful,  sys- 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


tematic,  and  thorough  to  a  degree,  and  calculated,  if  due  age  is 
given,  to  bring  out  their  good  qualities. 

"  As  to  the  methods  of  training  the  Scuppernong  vines,  as  prac- 
tised at  Tokay  Vineyards,  we  may  be  pardoned  for  saying,  that  it 
is  not  the  system  to  bring  out  the  full  capacities  of  the  Scuppernong 
as  a  wine-grape,  being  the  old-time  arbor  system  in  vogue  through- 
out the  South. 

"  By  that  system  it  is  not  possible  to  produce  a  must  weighing 
over  sixty-five  degrees  Oechle's,  and  frequently  it  drops  as  low  as 
sixty  degrees.  On  the  other  hand,  some  of  our  correspondents 
who  have  adopted  the  high-trellis  system,  and  pruned  the  vines, 
and  fertilized  them,  as  other  species  usually  are,  have  informed  us 
that  they  have  annually  obtained  a  must  weighing  from  eighty  to 
eighty-five  degrees.  Of  course  it  will  be  seen  from  this,  that  in 
any  event  it  will  be  necessary  to  add  sugar  to  produce  a  wine  that 
will  stand  up  in  any  climate,  and  bear  shipwreck  anywhere ;  or  to 
add  salicylic  acid.  This  is  true  of  many  other  good  wine-grapes, 
both  here  and  in  Europe. 

"The  following  is  the  analysis  of  the  North-Carolina  Scupper- 
nong, as  made  by  the  chemists  of  the  Agricultural  Department  at 
Washington  :  — 

Specific  gravity,  1.0122;  per  cent  alcohol  by  weight,  14.14;  per  cent 
alcohol  by  volume,  18;  per  cent  total  residue,  8.38;  per  cent  total  ash, 
1.04;  per  cent  sugar,  6.67 ;  per  cent  total  acid  as  tartaric,  .741 ;  per  cent 
fixed  acid  as  tartaric,  .459 ;  per  cent  volatile  acid  as  acetic,  .234. 

"  A  study  of  this  table  shows  that  the  wine  possesses  in  a  com- 
paratively high  degree  the  vinous  properties  of  a  good  healthful 
wine.  It  certainly  is  highly  esteemed  by  the  medical  profession 
throughout  the  South,  and  is  often  prescribed  by  them  where  a 
gentle  stimulant  or  tonic  is  needed,  and  especially  in  certain 
kidney  ailments,  with  the  utmost  confidence  and  faith. 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


"The  grape  is  ironclad  against  every  insect  pest  at  present 
known,  healthy,  prolific  bearer,  of  rapid,  robust  growth,  extremely 
long  lived  ;  and,  when  a  better  method  of  training  the  vines  is 
adopted,  a  much  higher  place  in  the  scale  of  American  wine- 
grapes  awaits  it." 

This  from  "The  Wilmington  Journal,"  June  8,  1883  :  — 

"  A  neat  but  modest  cottage,  resting  on  the  brow  of  a  gradually 
sloping  hill,  surrounded  by  well-kept  grape-vines  and  young  fruit- 
trees,  is  the  home  at  Tokay,  near  Fayetteville,  of  Hon.  Wharton  J. 
Green,  congressman-elect  from  the  Third  North-Carolina  District. 
It  is  one  which  might  well  be  considered  the  ideal  home  of  a  poet ; 
being  beautifully  located,  and  handsome  in  its  surroundings,  nestled 
as  it  is  in  the  midst  of  the  beautiful  Tokay  Vineyard,  surrounded 
by  almost  innumerable  trellised  grape-vines  of  equal  height,  whose 
verdure  embraces  every  tint  of  spring's  first  harbinger  of  abundant 
yield.  The  unpretentious  cottage  of  our  congressman  is  truly  a 
beautiful  oasis  of  peace  and  tranquil  repose  in  this  ever  progres- 
sive world. 

"  Chaste  and  beautiful  statuary  is  gracefully  placed  about  the 
grounds  immediately  surrounding  the  home  which  Col.  Green  has 
made  for  himself  and  family.  .  .  . 

"  After  being  warmly  welcomed  by  Col.  Green,  and  resting  in 
the  home  of  our  congressman,  we  were  shown  over  the  grounds, 
and  through  the  vineyard. 

"  Tokay  consists  of  about  two  hundred  acres  of  fertile  land, 
which  is  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  with  much  more  out- 
lying land,  which  will  be  taken  in  and  cultivated,  as  occasion 
requires,  in  carrying  out  the  ideal  and  model  vineyard  of  Col. 
Green. 

"  From  an  observatory-landing  on  the  eastern  end  of  the  wine- 
house  a  most  magnificent  view  of  Tokay  and  the  surrounding 


TOKAY    VIHEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    H.C. 


country  can  be  had.  The  eye  follows  in  every  direction  the  soft 
verdure  of  the  trellised  vines  down  the  gradually  sloping  hills ; 
and  when  looking  in  a  southerly  direction  the  slope  is  gradual 
and  gentle,  until  the  eye  is  arrested  by  the  curving  branches  on 
the  Cape  Fear  River,  and  the  bluffs  on  the  opposite  bank,  whose 
sides  and  tops  are  covered  by  honeysuckle,  wild  flowers,  and  the 
stately  water-oak,  maple,  ash,  and  the  immense  variety  of  trees 
and  various  foliage  for  which  the  river-banks  are  noted.  Looking 
a  little  farther  to  the  south,  the  church-spires  and  the  buildings  in 
the  ancient  and  historic  town  of  Fayetteville,  as  it  rests  languidly 
in  the  hills  which  surround  it,  and  through  which  the  gurgling 
waters  of  the  Cross  Creek  flow,  can  be  seen.  Continuing  our 
ramble  through  the  grounds,  we  saw  and  examined  the  gas-house, 
the  steam  pump  which  supplies  the  residence  with  water,  the 
foundation  of  the  old  wine-house  which  was  destroyed  by  Sher- 
man's renegades,  and  drank  from  the  spring,  which  is  noted  for 
the  purity  of  its  water.  We  next  visited  the  fish-ponds,  which 
Col.  Green  has  spent  much  time  in  bringing  to  their  present 
excellent  condition.  These  are  five  in  number ;  and  each  one  is 
well  stocked  with  the  choicest  fish,  which  seem  to  know  their 
owner's  step  and  voice,  and  readily  come  to  the  edge  of  the  ponds 
to  receive  food  from  his  hands. 

"Another  new  propagating-pond  is  being  made,  which  will 
increase  the  capacity  for  raising  young  fish. 

"  Col.  Green  seems  only  to  have  improved  upon  the  natural 
advantages  offered,  and  in  so  doing  has  strenuously  avoided  every- 
thing which  would  tend  towards  an  artificial  appearance.  A  cir- 
cuitous route  brought  us  back  to  the  wine-house  and  vaults,  which 
we  were  shown  through.  Here  we  found  over  forty  thousand 
gallons  of  wine  of  different  vintages.  The  vaults  are  kept  at  the 
same  temperature  during  the  entire  year,  and  from  them  some  of 
the  best  wines  made  in  this  country  are  taken. 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,     FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


"A  highly  competent  judge  and  dealer  in  imported  wines  in 
New  York  has  written  to  the  superintenent  of  Tokay,  telling  him 
that  the  wines  sent  him  were  equal  to  the  best  imported  wines  he 
received. 

"  Col.  Green  is  having  a  new  peach  and  apple  orchard  planted, 
with  improved  varieties,  and  is  constantly  making  additions  to  his 
vineyard,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Tokay  is  already  one  of 
the  largest  vineyards  in  this  country.  The  gates  of  Tokay  are 
always  open  to  visitors  ;  and  during  the  harvest  all  are  welcome  to 
partake  of  the  luscious  fruit  of  the  vine,  while  the  sick  and  absent 
ones  are  never  forgotten  by  the  genial  host  of  Tokay." 

"The  Raleigh  News  and  Observer"  says,  — 

"  It  has  been  my  great  pleasure  to  visit  this  most  lovely  spot, 
the  Tokay  Vineyard,  by  invitation  of  Col.  Wharton  J.  Green.  I 
venture  the  assertion,  that  it  is  one  of  the  loveliest  spots  in  the 
State ;  and,  with  the  improvements  Col.  Green  is  making,  in  a 
year  or  two  more  it  will  be  a  place  of  as  much  beauty  and  interest 
as  any  I  know  of  in  the  South.  There  are  now  one  hundred 
acres  under  the  cover  of  grape-arbors,  and  vines  of  every  variety 
of  grapes. 

"The  view  from  the  top  of  the  wine-cellar  is  not  to  be  sur- 
passed. The  Claret  and  Scuppernong  are  superior  to  any  I  have 
ever  tasted.  Col.  Green  makes  a  Dry  Scuppernong,  which  must 
meet  a  ready  sale.  And,  to  my  taste,  the  Claret  he  makes  is  as 
good  as  any  I  ever  drank.  The  colonel  has  four  valuable  fish-ponds, 
with  every  variety  of  fish,  consisting  of  carp,  speckled  trout,  perch, 
etc.  He  has  a  gasometer  on  his  place,  and  his  premises  are  lighted 
with  gas." 

Scores  of  certificates  from  prominent  parties,  and  good  judges 
of  wine,  might  be  added  in  support  of  the  purity  and  excellence  of 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


the  wines  of  Tokay.  A  few,  however,  will  suffice  as  samples  of  the 
rest.  Clipped  from  "  News  Observer  :  "  — 

"  THE  TOKAY  WINES.  —  Dr.  Louis  A.  Sayre  of  New  York,  a 
famous  physician,  has  written  a  letter  to  his  warm  friend,  Dr. 
Eugene  Grissom,  in  which  he  speaks  in  the  highest  terms  of  the 
wines  from  the  celebrated  Tokay  Vineyard  of  Col.  Wharton  J. 
Green,  near  Fayetteville.  In  his  letter  Dr.  Sayre  says,  '  You  will 
pardon  me  for  not  thanking  you  sooner  for  your  beautiful  present 
of  native  wine,  which  a  number  of  friends  tried  on  Christmas  Day, 
and  pronounced  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  finest  Rhine  wines. 
I  had  no  idea  such  wine  was  made  in  this  country,  and  I  am  very 
proud  of  it.'  ' 

Professor  Wheeler  of  United-States  Military  Academy  :  — 

WEST  POINT,  N.Y.,  April  25,  1883. 

Col.  WHARTON  J.  GREEN,   Tokay  Vineyard,  Fayetteville,  N.C. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  I  have  received  the  last  half-barrel  of  wine  which  your 
superintendent,  Mr.  McBuie,  shipped  me,  in  compliance  with  your  instruc- 
tions to  fill  my  order,  and  have  given  it  a  fair  trial.  I  consider  this  last 
shipment  as  good  as,  if  not  superior  to,  any  I  have  before  received. 

I  have  now  been  using  this  brand  of  wine,  Sweet  Meisch,  upon  my  table 
for  my  family  for  a  period  of  three  years.  It  was  first  recommended  to 
me  by  Dr.  Hughes  of  Newbern,  N.C.,  and  has  proved  a  pure,  wholesome, 
and  excellent  wine  in  every  respect.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  recommend- 
ing this  wine  to  all  persons  who  are  desirous  of  having  upon  their  table  a 
wholesome  and  healthy  drink.  When  persons  cannot  drink  freely  of  cold 
water  —  as,  unfortunately,  there  are  many  —  without  suffering  from  its  effects, 
I  know  of  nothing  that  can  supply  its  place  like  your  native  wines,  so  free 
are  they  from  the  adulterations  and  impurities  of  the  foreign  stuffs  which 
characterize  the  importations  of  the  day  from  abroad.  I  have  found  this 
wine  to  be  beneficial  in  its  effects,  and  in  fact  ^food  for  the  members  of 

my  family. 

Most  truly  yours, 

J.  B.  WHEELER. 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 

Judge  Woodbury  of  Boston  writes  :  — 

BOSTON,  May  8,  1883. 

DEAR  SIR, —  The  box  with  native  Claret  and  Scuppernong  from  your 
vineyard  has  reached  me  at  the  Parker  House.  Summoning  assistance 
from  some  of  its  noted  connoisseurs,  it  had  a  thorough  trial,  and  we  found 
the  Claret  not  to  be  surpassed  by  any  American  wine  of  its  kind  we  had 
ever  met ;  and  in  richness  of  aroma,  and  fruity  quality,  it  astonished  those 
only  acquainted  with  the  wines  of  Europe. 

The  Sweet  Scuppernong  we  found  smooth,  fruity,  and  a  capital  ladies' 
wine.  With  a  continuance  of  the  care  and  skill  in  its  preparation  that  your 
wine  evinces,  I  think  this  may  be  made  to  take  the  front  rank  among  all 
the  native  wines ;  and  when  it  gains  dryness  by  age  it  will  greatly  resemble 
the  grape-juice  of  the  south  side  of  Madeira.  I  had  no  idea  the  soil  near 
Fayetteville  was  so  favorable  for  the  vine-culture,  but  I  now  understand 
the  judgment  of  those  committees  who  have  awarded  medals  and  prizes  to 
the  products  of  the  "  Tokay  Vineyard." 

I  am  very  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES   LEVI    WOODBURY. 
Hon.  WHARTON  J.  GREEN,  Fayetteville,  N.C. 

Dr.  Gardner  of  the  army  writes  :  — 

FORT  DAVIS,  TEX.,  May  28,  1883. 

W.  J.  GREEN,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir,  —  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  add  my  testimony  to  the  many 
you  have  already  received  regarding  the  excellence  of  your  wines.  When 
all  are  so  good,  it  is  hard  to  discriminate  ;  but  those  which  especially  tickled 
my  gustatory  nerves  are  the  Claret,  the  Dry  Scuppernong,  and  the  Sweet 
Meisch. 

I  am  no  longer  a  juvenile,  and  during  the  past  twenty  years  have  drunk 
considerable  imported  Claret ;  and,  to  my  experience,  your  Claret  has  a  much 
pleasanter  effect,  both  on  the  palate  and  on  the  system  generally,  than  either 
the  imported  Margaux  or  the'Medoc. 

The  Sweet  Meisch  is  a  universal  favorite  with  ladies.  I  have  never  offered 
it  to  a  lady  who  was  not  pleased  with  its  delicate  bouquet  and  flavor.  And 
on  the  same  grounds  it  is  much  esteemed  by  invalids,  while  its  percentage 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    H.C. 


of  alcohol  is  not  so  great  as  to  render  it  too  stimulating.  The  Scupper- 
nong,  too,  is  a  wine  that  has  warm  recommendations.  Its  delicious  flavor, 
perfect  purity,  and  entire  absence  from  any  hurtful  effect  upon  the  system, 
will,  I  know,  soon  cause  it  to  come  into  general  use  wherever  its  qualities 
are  known. 

I  have  already  recommended  your  wines  to  many  of  my  friends ;  and  I 
shall  feel  that  I  have  only  done  my  duty,  if  my  commendations  help  in  the 
least  to  establish  the  use  of  pure  native  wines,  and  to  decrease  the  con- 
sumption of  the  vile  foreign  concoctions  sold  as  the  juice  of  the  grape. 
I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

W.    H.    GARDNER,    M.D.,  Major  and  Surgeon,  U.S.  Army. 

From  Capt.  Conrad  of  Tenth  Infantry,  U.S.A.  :  — 

FORT  RANDALL,  DAKOTA,  July  26,  1883. 

Hon.  W.  J.  GREEX. 

Sir,  —  It  has  been  about  two  years  since  I  first  met  with  the  wines  of 
Tokay  Vineyard ;  and  after  quite  a  trial  of  both  the  Claret,  Sweet  Meisch, 
and  Sherry  you  manufacture  there,  I  am  pleased  to  state  that  I  consider 
them  vastly  superior  to  any  other  native  wines  I  have  ever  used.  In  fact,  I 
consider  your  Claret  as  unequalled  by  any  other  maker,  either  abroad  or  at 
home.  It  is  a  rich,  pure,  fruity  wine,  of  delicate  taste  and  odor,  and  I 
believe  a  more  healthful  wine  than  any  other  I  have  used  on  my  table. 

I  have  noticed  also  its  superiority  over  California  Claret,  in  the  fact  that 
it  can  be  kept  quite  a  number  of  days  in  a  decanter,  and  apparently  suffer 
no  deterioration  from  partial  exposure  to  the  air ;  while  all  the  California 
Claret  I  have  used  has  soured  by  the  second  day.  I  take  pleasure  in 
recommending  your  wines  to  all  who  desire  a  pure,  honest  article. 

Yours  respectfully, 

J.  A.  CONRAD,  Captain  Tenth  Infantry. 

The  late  Henry  Nutt  of  Wilmington  says,  "Send  me  another 
case  of  your  Claret.  I  unhesitatingly  pronounce  it  not  only 
equal  to,  but  in  my  sober  judgment  superior  to,  the  best  imported 
article  I  ever  drank." 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    H.C. 


Capt.  Tomkins  of  the  army  :  — 

114  EAST  IQTH  STREET,  NEW  YORK,  May  21,  1883. 

It  affords  me  pleasure  to  testify  to  the  very  excellent  qualities  of  the 
Scuppernong  wine  from  the  Tokay  Vineyard  of  Fayetteville.  The  wine, 
both  sweet  and  dry,  is  far  superior  to  any  of  the  kind  I  have  ever  tasted  ; 
and  I  feel  assured  it  will  rapidly  take  a  prominent  rank  among  the  native 
wines  of  this  country. 

J.  S.  TOMKINS,  Captain  U.S.A. 

Lieut.  J.  T.  French,  jun.,  writes:  — 

WEST  POINT,  N.Y.,  April  23,  1883. 

...  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  say  that  I  consider  the  Sweet  Concord  wine 
sent  me  from  Tokay  Vineyard,  and  again  this  spring,  the  most  satisfactory 
wine  of  its  kind  that  I  have  ever  tasted.  If  the  Claret  from  your  vineyard 
is  as  good,  I  am  sure  that  the  army  mess  of  this  post  can  easily  be  made  a 
customer,  and  their  indorsement  will  be  worth  something  to  you.  .  .  . 

I  would  like  to  see  the  absurd  notion,  that  wine  can't  be  good  unless  it 
is  imported,  shown  up  in  its  proper  light. 

Very  respectfully, 
J.  T.  FRENCH,  JUN.,  zd  Lieutenant  Fourth  Artillery. 


The  award  of  the  Atlanta  Exposition  reads  :  — 

"  Ives  Seedling  Wine.     Best  on  exhibition,  and  premium  of  $5  recom- 

mended. 

"Norton's  Virginia  Wine.  Sparkling  wines  and  still  wines.  Best  on 
exhibition,  and  especially  recommended  for  table  wine.  Premium  $5. 

"We  find  also  that  Col.  VV.  J.  Green  has  the  best  collection  of  sparkling 
wines,  for  which  we  recommend  an  award  of  the  first  premium  of  $15. 
His  sparkling  Scuppernong  ranks  with  the  best  native  Champagne.  Also 
second  premium  for  best  collection  of  still  wines.  We  found  in  these 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


collections  samples  of  wine  of  very  superior  quality,  equal  to  the  best 
imported  wines." 

The  last  four  State  Fairs  have  awarded  all  the  first  premiums, 
including  three  gold  medals,  to  the  wines  of  Tokay :  so  have  the 
Fruit-Growers'  Fairs  of  the  State,  and  all  the  County  Fairs,  wher- 
ever it  has  entered  for  competition. 


AN  ESSAY  ON  AMERICAN  GRAPE-CULTURE. 


IF  he  who  causes  two  blades  of  grass  to  grow  where  but  one 
grew  before  is  greater  than  he  who  winneth  a  battle,  surely  he 
who  causes  a  new  industry  to  spring  into  existence  where  it  was 
unknown  before  is  not  without  service  to  his  fellow-man. 

The  pioneer  is  usually  a  public  benefactor,  be  it  a  Columbus,  a 
De  Soto,  a  Raleigh  on  unploughed  seas,  a  Boone  in  the  wilds  of 
Kentucky,  an  Arkwright,  Fulton,  Faraday,  Maury,  Morse,  or 
Edison  in  the  fields  of  science,  or  he  in  agriculture  who  demon- 
strates the  feasibility  and  profit  of  growing  valuable  products  in 
localities  before  considered  unsuited.  In  either  case  the  essential 
elements  of  the  hero  —  nerve,  penetration,  self-reliance,  and  con- 
tempt for  the  sneers  of  witlings  —  are  indispensable  to  success. 
And  we  hold  that  the  humanizing  agents  of  advancement  are 
infinitely  more  to  be  honored  than  the  representatives  of  the 
destructive  or  brutalizing  idea. 

If  a  Krupp,  an  Armstrong,  or  a  Catling  are  to  be  held  in  honor 
of  men  for  their  terrible  engines  of  destruction,  who  shall  gainsay 
at  least  equal  praise  to  him  who  contributes  in  any  wise  to  the 
amelioration  of  the  race,  or  the  development  of  his  State  ?  Such, 
as  a  rule,  are  not  without  honor,  save  in  their  own  country.  There, 
contempt  is  usually  their  portion. 

Nicholas  Longworth  setting  out  his  little  vine-patch  on  the  hill- 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,     FAYETTEVILLE,    H.C. 


slopes  of  the  Ohio  overlooking  Cincinnati,  was  probably  as  much 
an  object  of  ridicule  to  the  wise-acres  about  him  as  was  the  first 
arkwright  whilst  preparing  for  the  big  freshet.  The  one,  how- 
ever, became  the  second  founder  of  the  human  family,  and  the 
first  recorded  patron  of  the  wine.  The  other,  although  he  ever  led 
an  active  life,  and  accumulated  a  colossal  fortune,  always  main- 
tained, and  posterity  will  affirm,  that  the  vine-patch  constitutes 
his  chiefest  claim  on  the  gratitude  of  those  who  are  to  come  after. 
And  why  ?  Others  had  planted  vine-patches  before,  and  rested  in 
the  shade  thereof  ?  Most  true.  But  none  in  the  New  World  had 
planted  with  the  purpose  and  intent  of  working  out  a  mighty  prob- 
lem, the  solution  of  which  was  considered  as  chimerical  as  the 
quadrature  of  the  circle. 

He  it  was  who  answer  gave  to  the  sceptical  query  of  quid  mines, 
"  Can  wine  be  made  in  America  ?  "  His  experimental  answer  was 
no  doubtful  affirmative,  and  is  to-day  worth  annual  millions  to 
his  trusting  and  confiding  followers.  It  will,  in  the  no  distant 
future,  be  worth  untold  millions  to  his  countrymen  in  the  moral, 
economic,  hygienic  aspect  of  the  case.  The  proposition  critically 
examined,  and  none  but  bigots  will  refuse  him  a  niche  amongst 
the  world's  benefactors.  Reason  why  ?  This  strong  conglomerate 
race  to  which  we  belong  ever  has,  and,  as  much  as  it  is  to  be 
deplored,  probably  ever  will  use  stimulants.  Then  give  us  the 
least  pernicious.  Is  it  corn-juice,  or  is  it  grape-juice  ?  Upon 
answer  to  this  hingeth  answer,  "  Was  Nick  Longworth  a  bene- 
factor?" Science  tells  us  at  the  threshold,  that  alcohol  evolved 
by  fermentation  is  less  noxious  than  that  of  distillation. 

O  "ye  unco  guid  !"  follow  me  to  the  vine-clad  hills  of  sunny 
France,  the  Rhenish  slopes,  the  Spanish  plains,  Italian  arbors,  and 
terraced  hillsides  of  the  Sicilies,  Teneriffe,  and  Madeira,  where 
the  vine  has,  or  had,  an  established  home,  and  tell  me  if  amongst 
the  festive  bands  of  youths  and  maidens  returning  from  the  lus- 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


cious  clusters  and  well-stocked  cellars,  after  their  day's  work  is 
done,  you  observe  a  beastly  Bacchanal,  half  man  and  half  goat, 
Silenus-like,  tottering  under  an  excess  of  alcoholic  dead  weight. 
And  yet  I  invite  you  to  the  lands  where  the  juice  of  the  fruit  of 
the  vine  is  almost  as  abundant,  cheap,  and  free  as  Nature's  bever- 
age. Let  us  now  wend  our  way  to  the  lands  where  the  grape 
groweth  not,  or  is  just  beginning  to  grow,  —  Russia,  Sweden, 
Norway,  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Mexico,  and  even  our  own 
favored  country.  Mark  the  contrast,  and  answer  make  according. 
It  seems  to  be  an  inscrutable  law  of  nature,  that,  as  wine  increases, 
drunkenness  diminishes.  As  regards  the  United  States,  it  has 
lately  been  stated  officially,  that,  population  considered,  there  is 
not  half  the  amount  of  distilled  spirits  drunk  at  this  time  that 
there  was  twenty  years  ago.  Whilst  the  advocates  of  a  high  direct 
tax  on  the  article  —  in  spite  of  the  admission  of  parliamentary 
committees  to  the  contrary,  in  the  case  of  Scotland  and  Ireland, 
where  the  experiment  of  a  tax  supposed  to  be  prohibitory  has  had 
a  fair  test  and  trial  —  are  disposed  to  claim  all  the  credit  for  the 
reduction  in  consumption,  the  native  wine-grower  modestly  puts 
in  his  claim,  and  holds  that  the  largely  increased  production  of 
home-made  cheap  wines  accounts,  more  than  all  things  else,  for 
the  corresponding  falling-off  in  consumption  of  gin,  rum,  brandy, 
whiskey,  etc. 

From  the  earliest  recorded  times,  the  cultivation  of  the  vine,  and 
the  expression  and  fermentation  of  the  juice  of  the  grape,  has 
been  one  of  the  recognized  great  industries  of  the  world.  After 
the  indispensable  "  staff  of  life,"  it  has  been  the  chiefest  pillar 
of  national  prosperity  for  more  great  States  than  any  other  one 
agricultural  staple  that  can  be  named. 

During  the  long  period  that  "The  Eternal  City  "was  the  recog- 
nized mistress  of  the  world,  and  when  the  Roman  Legions  bore 
"  the  eagle "  from  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  to  the  Euphrates  and 

19 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


Indus,  and  from  the  equatorial  south  to  the  frozen  north,  wine 
was  the  established  market  and  money  crop  of  that  puissant  people. 
The  vine  was  the  foster-child  of  the  senate,  of  consuls,  and  of 
tribunes.  The  annual  product  was  immense,  and  freely  was  it 
consumed.  At  home  and  in  camp  it  was  drunk  like  water,  and  yet 
drunkenness  was  not  the  prevailing  vice  of  Rome.  That  its  use 
was  not  enervating,  we  have  but  to  turn  to  the  recorded  achieve- 
ments, the  unparalleled  endurance,  of  her  matchless  soldiery,  to 
have  all  doubts  resolved.  The  reason  is  obvious.  They  made  a 
pure  article,  and  drank  nothing  stronger.  In  the  heyday  of  the 
republic,  before  national  decay,  the  inevitable  result  of  personal 
decadence,  set  in,  honesty  was  no  less  the  rule  in  Rome  than  were 
patriotism,  courage,  and  frugality.  Short  weights  and  measures, 
counterfeiting  and  adulterations,  stamped  the  guilty  party  with 
the  Latin  synonyme  of  the  good  old  English  word  "scoundrel;" 
and  swift  and  terrible  penalty  followed.  The  diabolic  arts  and 
playful  tricks  of  modern  chemistry,  by  which  harmless  simples  are 
so  blended  and  compounded  as  to  prove  most  noxious  and  destruc- 
tive to  human  health  and  life,  were  then  unknown  on  the  banks 
of  the  Tiber.  Pure  wine  and  healthy  food,  neither  of  which  had 
undergone  the  manipulations  of  an  "  expert,"  were  the  only  sort 
sold  in  the  markets  of  Rome  ;  and  a  brave,  vigorous,  simple,  and 
healthy  race  was  the  result. 

Unlike  the  citizens  of  "the  great  modern  republic,"  those  of 
"the  great  ancient "  had  nothing  more  terrible  to  apprehend  than 
a  Carthaginian  arrow,  or  the  javelin  of  a  Gaul.  Grim  distrust 
had  no  seat  at  the  festal  board  to  whisper  with  every  crook  of  the 
elbow,  "  Do  you  know  what  you  are  putting  in  your  mouth  ?  "  But 
to  return  from  this  digression.  The  vine  to-day  (or,  rather,  yes- 
terday, before  the  terrible  phylloxera  began  to  work  upon  it)  is 
or  was  the  source  of  the  material  prosperity  of  the  nations  of 
Southern  and  Central  Europe. 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


In  France  it  had  for  centuries  maintained  proportions  which 
dwarfed  all  other  pursuits,  the  yearly  crop  largely  exceeding  in 
market-value  that  of  our  much  vaunted  textile  fabric,  cotton. 

Has  inebriety  kept  pace  with  yearly  increasing  product  in 
those  countries  ?  It  has,  but  in  the  inverse  ratio.  The  traveller 
will  tell  you  that  it  is  a  rare  sight,  that  of  a  drunken  man  in  the 
wine-producing  countries  of  the  Old  World.  If  such  be  a  fact, 
does  it  not  behoove  the  philanthropist  to  pause  and  stick  a  pin, 
and  ask  the  reason  why  ?  If  fact  it  be,  taken  in  connection  with 
another,  viz.,  that  the  immaculate  Saviour  of  mankind  turned  water 
into  wine  at  the  wedding-feast,  it  surely  ought  to  silence  those 
self-sufficient  and  narrow-minded  bigots  who  cry  out  against  the 
morality  of  grape-growing  and  wine-making. 

//  is,  of  course,  a  new  industry  in  the  New  World,  but  in  the 
last  few  years  has  been  making  headway  with  the  strides  of  a  giant, 
and  bids  fair,  at  a  no  distant  day,  not  only  to  drive  the  refuse  stuffs 
of  the  foreign  vineyardist  out  of  our  own  markets,  but  to  compete 
with  him  in  neutral  ones,  if  not  in  those  under  the  shadow  of  his 
own  vine. 

For  generations  its  introduction  and  development  were  retarded 
in  our  country  by  the  ex  cathedra  scoff  of  the  Old-World  culturist, 
that  wine  could  under  no  circumstances  be  made  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic,  and  the  implicit  credence  given  the  statement 
by  would-be  beginners  in  the  experiment,  as  well  as  by  wine- 
drinkers  themselves,  who  had  to  be  educated  up  to  the  point 
of  impartial  trial,  and  to  put  their  own  palate  on  the  witness- 
stand,  instead  of  placing  implicit  reliance  on  the  damnatory 
verdict  of  an  adverse  and  partial  jury.  That  point  has  now 
been  reached,  and  it  is  a  great  point  gained.  According  to  the 
"  Report  of  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,"  published  by 
the  United-States  Government,  the  amount  of  native  wines  con- 
sumed in  this  country  is  over  twenty-five  per  cent  of  all  that  is 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


used  ;  and  the  supply  and  the  demand  are  increasing  with  acceler- 
ated speed.  x 

Whilst  there  is  undoubtedly  a  certain  class  of  Americans,  sui 
generis,  who  prefer  to  set  up  as  connoisseurs,  and  who,  to  maintain 
their  self-complacent  assumption  of  superior  taste,  will  persist  in 
being  cajoled  and  "put  upon"  by  foreign  pretenders,  and  native 
dealers  in  foreign  wares,  nevertheless,  the  great  bulk  of  our 
people  are  too  practical,  common-sensed,  and  matter-of-fact  to 
continue  to  take  forever  foreign  notables  or  foreign  wares  at  the 
exorbitant  valuation  which  they  put  upon  themselves  and  their 
products.  A  little  while  back  it  was  impossible  to  get  a  bot- 
tle of  native  wine  at  any  of  the  high-priced  and  fashionable 
eating-houses  of  the  large  cities.  Now  few  of  them  can  afford 
to  be  without  them.  The  repeated  demand  of  their  customers 
for  a  pure,  low-priced  native  beverage  has  remedied  the  omission 
on  their  shelves. 

Doubtless  another  reason  for  the  result  stated  is  the  constantly 
diminishing  European  supply,  owing  to  the  ravages  of  that  con- 
stantly increasing  pest  of  the  Old-World  vines,  previously  referred 
to  as  "phylloxera,"  which  are  rapidly  sweeping  out  of  existence 
the  old  recognized  source  of  supply.  This  tiny  insect,  which 
attacks  the  young  rootlets  of  the  vine  in  myriads,  denudes  them 
of  their  bark,  and  leaves  them  to  die  a  lingering  death.  Already 
whole  districts  heretofore  devoted  exclusively  to  wine-culture  have 
been  virtually  abandoned  for  that  purpose.  Governments  have 
offered  immense  rewards  for  a  remedy,  but  all  in  vain  ;  and  the 
old  proprietors  are  now  driven  to  the  necessity  of  introducing 
native  American  vines  of  the  heretofore  by  them  despised  cestivalis 
family,  which  are  phylloxera-proof,  owing  to  their  thin  coating  of 
bark,  upon  which  the  insect  can  make  no  headway.  If  they  can 
make  a  wine  out  of  our  own  grapes,  the  question  may  well  be 
asked,  "Why  can  we  not  do  it  with  educated  labor?"  George 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


Hussman,  high  authority,  predicts  that  in  ten  years  the  European 
or  Asiatic  grape  will  virtually  cease  to  exist.  Why,  too,  should 
we  not  then  transfer  this  rich  argosy,  or  rather  this  close  mo- 
nopoly, to  our  own  shores,  and  hereafter  furnish  the  Old-World 
folk  with  drink,  as  we  are  now  doing,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
with  meat  and  bread  ? 

Mr.  Nicholas  Longworth,  the  true  father  of  American  viticul- 
ture, stated  over  thirty  years  ago  that  our  own  State,  North 
Carolina,  was  the  normal  habitat  of  the  vine  on  the  western 
hemisphere,  the  natural  vineyard  of  the  continent. 

Should  not  the  government  encourage  tlic  effort  ? 

Such  we  hold  to  be  its  duty  no  less  than  its  interest.  The  wine- 
grower demands  no  prohibitory  protection  against  foreign  compe- 
tition, although  representing  an  industry  but  yet  in  its  infancy. 
Natural  causes  will  soon  do  that.  But  he  thinks  he  has  the  right 
to  demand  that  unnatural  restriction,  such  as  license-tax  from  the 
retailer,  should  straightway  be  abolished,  as  calculated  to  hamper 
and  curtail  his  sales  to  that  class.  There  is  no  good  reason  why 
it  should  be  retained.  By  detaching  it  from  the  same  category 
witii  distilled  spirits,  the  sale  of  these  last  would  not  be  per- 
ceptibly affected,  and  hence  neither  would  the  revenue  from  that 
source. 

Why,  then,  the  question  may  well  be  asked,  should  this  manufac- 
tured product  of  the  soil  be  subject  to  invidious  tax  more  than  the 
products  from  sorghum,  jute,  hemp,  or  oil-seeds  ?  No  better  reason 
than  existing  usage  can  be  assigned  for  the  retention  of  such  an 
unjust  and  unwise  excise.  It  has  been  estimated  that  the  people 
of  this  country  are  taxed  indirectly  no  less  than  twelve  hundred  and 
fifty  millions  anmially  to  encourage  the  manufacturing  interests 
of  the  land.  If  their  juvenility  can  justify  the  claim  to  govern- 
mental protection  to  such  an  inconceivable  extent,  surely  this  other 
and  newer  industry  may  demand  in  common  equity,  both  for  itself 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,     FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


and  for  the  sake  of  national  prosperity,  that  all  restrictive  legisla- 
tion as  affecting  itself  shall  at  least  be  abrogated. 

The  vine  first  loomed  into  importance  in  the  New  World  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio,  although  the  Spanish  Jesuits  had  cultivated  it 
extensively  a  century  or  two  before  in  New  Mexico  and  California. 
To-day  it  occupies  a  prominent  place  amongst  the  leading  indus- 
tries of  Ohio,  Missouri,  Texas,  California,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
and  Virginia.  North  Carolina  has  been  laggard  in  its  develop- 
ment, although  the  birth  State  of  many  of  the  most  approved 
varieties,  and  especially  of  the  grape  prodigy  previously  spoken  of 
as  "  the  Scuppernong,"  whose  discovery  is  coeval  with  Caucasian 
rule  on  the  continent.  It  is  essentially  a  tropical,  or  rather  semi- 
tropical,  plant,  and  will  not  flourish  north  of  36°  30'  north  latitude, 
and,  unlike  too  many  of  Carolina's  sons,  prefers  its  native  State  to 
any  other.  Its  fruit  fresh  from  the  vine  is  conceded,  by  nearly 
all  who  have  ever  tried  it,  to  be  one  of  the  most  delicious  in  the 
world.  It  is  one  which  grows  upon  the  palate,  and  increases  in 
popularity  upon  better  acquaintance.  Besides  its  nutritive  and 
palatable  attributes,  it  is  conceded,  by  all  who  know  it,  to  possess 
high  medicinal  properties,  and  is  so  recommended  by  the  medical 
faculty,  on  account  of  its  aperient  and  diuretic  qualities.  Tne 
same  is  true  of  its  wine,  when  properly  made,  and  not  degraded 
into  a  sirup  by  the  profuse  artificial  addition  of  sugar. 

The  celebrated  chemist  and  scientist,  Dr.  Jackson  of  Boston, 
in  a  report  of  his  published  by  the  United-States  Government 
a  few  years  ago,  predicts  with  undoubting  assurance  that  in  no 
distant  future  it  will  be  admitted  to  be,  "  not  only  the  wine-grape 
of  America,  but  the  wine-grape  of  the  world."  When  that  day 
arrives,  the  wild  vine  discovered  by  the  bold  adventurers  sent  out 
by  the  gifted  and  godlike  Raleigh  will  have  become  of  greater 
commercial  and  economic  value  to  the  State  whose  capital  town 
bears  his  name,  than  the  wonderful  weed  to  whose  soothing  infhi- 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


ence  he  became  the  slave,  as  has  the  world  after  him,  — "  that 
noxious  plant,"  which  in  spite  of  the  ridicule  of  philosophers,  the 
curse  of  kings,  the  interdict  of  parliaments,  and  the  anathema  of 
popes,  is  to-day  of  more  universal  use  than  any  other  named  one 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom.  These  are  "  the  words  of  soberness 
and  truth,"  although  the  subject  is  vinous.  We  are  willing  to 
stake  our  reputation  as  a  prophet  upon  it.  A  generation  or  two 
hence,  at  most,  will  render  verdict  indicated.  The  prediction  is 
predicated  no  less  upon  its  already  recognized  merits  than  upon 
the  necessity  of  the  case.  As  the  natural  production  of  the  Old 
World  is  curtailed  by  cause  over  which  the  vintner  has  no  con- 
trol, the  law  of  demand  will  necessitate  it.  A  bona  fide,  genuine 
wine  of  long-recognized  attributes  is  to-day  inadequate  to  supply 
the  present  home  demand,  leaving  the  future  out  of  account,  and 
ignoring  the  foreign  market.  Where  demand  outstrips  supply,  be 
the  commodity  what  it  may,  one  of  two  results  must  follow ;  viz., 
enhanced  price,  or  a  spurious  article.  Notwithstanding  the  annual 
and  accelerated  diminution  of  yield,  the  price,  all  things  consid- 
ered, is  no  higher  than  it  was  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  (for 
foreign  wines).  This  conceded,  is  it  not  patent  that  a  counterfeit 
article  must  have  supplanted  the  old-time  honest  one,  not  only  to 
meet  existing  home  demand,  but  more  especially  to  satisfy  the 
craving  of  alien  idiots,  who  will  be  content  with  nothing  else  than 
an  "imported  article  "  ? 

ADULTERATION.  —  Does  any  doubt  the  ramified  and  pernicious 
extent  to  which  it  has  of  late  years  been  carried  ?  If  any  there 
be  so  credulous  and  besotted  as  to  believe  that  label  or  bottle  is 
index  of  contents,  and  who  plumeth  himself  that  he  is  drinking 
the  juice  of  the  Asiatic  grape  whilst  he  sips  his  Moselle,  his  Rhine, 
Marsala,  or  Douro,  let  him  ask  himself  the  question,  and  answer 
from  the  presumptive  stand-point.  If  that  is  not  conclusive,  leav- 
ing facts  and  data  out  of  question,  we  propose  to  call  but  a  single 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


witness  to  the  stand  out  of  the  thousand  and  one  who  might  be 
subpoenaed  to  establish  the  point  at  issue.  The  "Journal  des 
Debats,"  being  French,  may  well  be  considered  an  impartial  wit- 
ness, or,  if  biassed  at  all,  to  be  so  in  behalf  of  the  native  producer 
instead  of  the  foreign  consumer.  See  what  it  says  as  culled  from 
a  late  copy  of  "  The  London  Times." 

If,  after  reading  it,  any  still  prefers  to  drink  the  vile  decoctions 
palmed  off  on  an  unsuspecting  world,  then  all  that  can  be  said  is, 
that  there  is  no  accounting  for  taste.  If  convinced  of  the  abomi- 
nation, does  it  not  behoove  him  to  be  very  cautious  of  foreign 
wines  ?  If,  after  being  convinced  by  such  unimpeachable  evidence, 
he  still  persists  in  clinging  to  his  high-priced  Sauterne,  Champagne, 
or  Hungary,  then  may  it  be  said  of  him,  as  was  said  of  another  in 
other  days,  "  Ephraim  is  joined  to  his  idols  :  let  him  alone."  If 
the  question  be  asked,  Whence  any  better  assurance  of  purity  in 
native  than  in  foreign  wines  ?  the  answer  would  naturally  be, 
Lower  price  holds  out  less  incentive  to  adulterating  rascality. 
Besides,  the  American  producer,  being  comparatively  a  new  be- 
ginner, is  not  up  to  "  the  tricks  of  the  trade  "  of  the  Old-World 
culturist.  The  most  harmless  counterfeit  wine  which  Europe  sends 
us  is  the  native  American,  which  is  palmed  off  under  foreign  labels 
to  an  ever  credulous  public  at  two  or  three  times  the  original  price. 
As  long  as  fools  can  be  found  to  set  such  value  upon  the  impress 
of  a  cork,  or  the  lettering  of  a  card,  it  will  not  be  otherwise.  But 
call  the  French  witness,  and  let  us  hear  what  he  has  to  say :  — 

"  The  Adulteration  of  Wine.  —  A  question  which  greatly  interests 
the  producers  of  wine,  but  more  especially  the  consumers  of  wine, 
in  France,  is  now  attracting  public  attention  and  the  press.  Sev- 
eral among  the  wine-merchants  of  Paris  have  held  a  great  meeting 
at  the  Cirque  d'Hiver,  under  the  presidency  of  M.  Duvergier,  who 
made  a  very  long  speech,  in  which  he  did  his  best  to  defend  the 
wine-trade  from  the  accusations  springing  from  all  sides  against 

26 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    H.C. 


the  poisonous  liquid  sold  for  wine.  The  writing  of  M.  Henri  de 
Parville,  which  has  appeared  in  the  scientific  feuilleton  of  the 
'Journal  des  Debats,'  will  not  encourage  people  to  drink  what  is 
ribw  sold  for  French  wine.  He  says,  'The  fabrication  and  adulter- 
ation of  the  wine  commences  when  the  liquid  is  prepared,  to  render 
it  clear,  and  apt  for  preservation.  Previous  to  its  Alteration,  it  is 
mixed  with  albumen,  gelatine,  blood,  and  milk.  These  substances 
agree  with  the  tannin,  and  are  used  to  modify  some  wines.  Some- 
times the  tannin  is  not  sufficient,  and  is  replaced  by  other  poisonous 
ingredients.  Very  often  "alum,"  a  strong  poison,  is  added  to  give 
the  wine  a  flavored  taste.  In  order  to  obtain  the  flavor  to  which 
the  palate  of  foreign  consumers,  and  especially  of  the  English 
and  American,  is  accustomed,  oxide  of  lead  is  added  to  destroy 
the  acidity.  Alcohols  produced  from  corn  are  added  to  increase 
its  strength.  Arsenic,  sulphuric  acid,  and  tartaric  acid  are  added 
to  give  it  color.'  The  writer  dwells  at  length  on  the  subject ;  and 
his  revelations  have  quite  startled  the  Parisians,  and  ought  to 
startle  the  British  public,  who  are  one  of  the  greatest  consumers 
of  these  poisonous  drinks.  After  pointing  to  the  immense  damage 
done  to  public  health  by  the  wine-manufacturers  of  France,  the 
'  Intransiegeant '  declares  that  it  cares  far  more  for  the  health  of 
the  public  than  the  reputation  of  the  French  wine-trade,  and  con- 
cludes, '  What  interests  us  most  in  this  question  is  not  the  wine- 
traders  but  the  consumers.  The  "  honor  of  the  trade  "  has  neither 
palate  nor  stomach,  nor  father,  mother,  wife,  and  children  ;  "  honor 
of  the  trade"  knows  nothing  of  inflammation  of  the  bowels,  and 
nobody  has  seen  the  aforesaid  "honor"  die  from  the  effects  of 
colic.  The  worst  agonies  of  this  "  honor  of  the  trade  "  will  always 
be  more  insignificant  than  the  mildest  pains  supported  by  the  last 
of  the  consumers.  Therefore,  at  a  time  when  not  one  of  the  pub- 
lic administration  fulfils  its  duties,  in  which  incorruptibility  is  noth- 
ing but  a  dream,  in  which  it  is  no  longer  monstrous  to  be  monstrous, 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


we  feel  it  our  duty  to  congratulate  the  Laboratoire  Municipal  on  its 
courage  for  refusing  its  protection  to  the  poisoners  of  the  people.'  " 
—  London  Times. 


PRICE-LIST. 


WINES   IN    WOOD. 

White  Sweet  Scuppernong.  . 
W'hite  Dry  Scuppernong  .  . 
Red  Sweet  Scuppernong  .  . 
Red  Dry  Scuppernong  .  . 
White  Sweet  Delaware  .  .  . 
White  Dry  Delaware  .... 
Red  Sweet  Meisch  .... 

Red  Dry  Meisch 

White  Sweet  Tokay  .... 
Red  Sweet  Concord  .... 
Red  Dry  Concord  .... 

Carolina  Rose 

Claret    

Port 

Sherry 

Muscatel 

Sacramental  . 


!  GAL. 

»I  00 
I  OO 
I  OO 
I  OO 

1  25 
1  25 
I  25 

1  25 

1  25 

I  25 
I  25 
I  25 

I  OO 

1  25 
I  25 
1  25 

I  OO 


WINES   IN   GLASS. 


PER   DOZ. 

•  #4    50 

•  4  5° 

•  4  5° 

•  4  5° 

•  5  oo 
5  oo 


White  Sweet  Scuppernong,  6's 
White  Dry  Scuppernong,  6's  . 
R.ed  Sweet  Scuppernong,  6's  . 
Red  Dry  Scuppernong,  6's  .  . 
White  Sweet  Delaware,  6's 
White  Dry  Delaware,  6's  .  . 

Red  Sweet  Meisch,  6's 5  oo 

Red  Dry  Meisch,  6's 5  oo 

White  Sweet  Tokay,  6's 5  oo 

Red  Sweet  Concord,  6's 5  oo 

Red  Dry  Concord,  6's 5  oo 

Carolina  Rose,  6's 5  oo 

Claret,  6's 4  50 

Port,  6's 5  oo 

Sherry,  6's 5  oo 

Muscatel,  6's 5  oo 

Sacramental,  6's 4  50 

Champagne  (quarts) 9  oo 

Champagne  (2  doz.  pints.).     .     .     .1000 


TO     PURCHASERS. 

We  warrant  our  Sweet  Wines  not  to  turn  sour  on  draught.  Our  Dry  Wines  in  wood 
are  the  same  prices  as  the  Sweet ;  but  we  cannot  warrant  them  against  turning  sour  on 
draught,  and,  if  ordered  in  wood,  are  always  sent  at  purchaser's  risk.  JVo  light  Dry  Wines, 
either  native  or  foreign,  will  keep  on  draught,  hence,  if  ordered  in  wood,  should  be  bottled. 

No  charge  for  package  if  ordered  by  the  barrel.  If  in  less  quantity  than  a  barrel,  one 
dollar  for  each  package  will  be  charged. 

We  spare  no  pains  or  expense  to  make  our  wines  of  a  standard  and  uniform  quality, 
and  trust  ymt  will  favor  us  with  your  orders. 

Orders  will  be  filled  promptly.     A  liberal  discount  to  the  trade. 

Very  respectfully, 

W.  J.  GREEN. 


EXTRACTS 


UNITED  STATES  CONSULAR  REPORTS, 


WE  deem  a  few  extracts  from  the  able  and  exhaustive  Report  of 
Hon.  Thomas  Wilson,  consul  at  Nantes,  France,  entirely  apposite 
to  the  subject.  (See  Reports  from  the  Consuls  of  the  United 
States,  No.  27,  January,  1883.)  "...  This  portion  of  this  Report 
is  intended  to  deal  with  this  question  in  its  relation  to  French 
wines  and  liquors,  to  show  that  they  have  been  adulterated,  have 
been  made  deleterious,  if  not  poisonous,  and  as  such  exported  to 
foreign  countries,  the  United  States  among  the  rest,  and,  if  the 
policy  of  reprisal  should  be  adopted,  that  French  wines  and  liquors 
as  at  present  manufactured  would  be  a  proper  subject.  .  .  .  Every- 
body knows  or  says  that  the  wines  and  liquors  of  France  are 
adulterated,  and  they  deprecate  it ;  but  the  consumption  and  use 
of  the  adulterated  article  go  on  much  the  same  as  if  no  adultera- 
tion existed.  I  shall  endeavor  to  give  some  information  from 
statistics  furnished  by  French  authorities,  and  so  not  to  be  con- 
troverted, showing  the  extent  to  which  this  adulteration  is  carried, 
and  in  some  slight  degree  its  effect  upon  the  people. 

"...  France  is  the  greatest  wine-producing  country  in  the 
world.  The  total  production  and  commerce  in  wine  for  1882 
amounted  to  2,056,692,491  francs  (about  $410,000,000).  .  .  . 

29 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


"In  1879  commenced  seriously  the  ravages  of  the  national 
plague, — the  phylloxera.  Without  study,  one  cannot  appreciate 
the  extent  of  the  ravages,  nor  the  great  damage  this  inflicted  on 
France.  In  1879-80  it  utterly  destroyed  1,250,000  acres  of  full- 
bearing  vines.  It  seriously  damaged  about  1,250,000  acres  more. 
It  reduced  the  wine-crop  to  25,000,000  hectoliters  in  1879,  being  a 
loss  of  about  800,000,000  of  gallons,  to  say  nothing  of  Eau  de 
vie,  Cognac,  etc. 

[NOTE.  —  Observe  the  traffic  in  the  article  before  and  since  this 
tremendous  diminution  of  supply  began,  and  say  does  it  indicate 
a  healthy  source?  —  ED.] 

Total  Export  of  Wines  and  Liquors. 

1877  .         .         .         .         .         .     Francs,  285,800,000 

1881      .......     Francs,  332,300,000 

"  Yet  this  immense  failure  of  from  five  hundred  to  eight  hun- 
dred millions  of  gallons,  continued  year  after  year,  has  had  no 
perceptible  effect  on  the  quantity  of  wine  drunk,  the  facility  with 
which  it  can  be  obtained,  nor  the  price  to  be  paid  for  it.  [See 
figures  above.]  .  .  .  How  has  this  great  feat  been  accomplished  ? 
The  recuperative  power  of  France,  after  one  year's  war  with 
Germany,  and  her  ability  to  make  the  most  out  of  the  least,  was 
at  once  the  wonder  and  the  admiration  of  the  world ;  but  in  the 
case  of  failure  of  the  wine-crop  she  has  shown  unexpected  recu- 
perative power,  and  the  ability  to  continue  it  for  an  indefinite 
period. 

"How  has  she  been  able  to  accomplish  it, — this  secret  of  mak- 
ing something  out  of  nothing  ?  Answer.  They  have  imported 
in  large  quantities  the  cheap,  heavy  wines  of  Spain  and  Italy. 
They  have  imported  raisins  from  Greece  and  Turkey,  soaked  them, 
and  expressed  the  juice  ;  and  to  these  bases  they  add  alcohol, 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    H.C. 


coloring  matter,  and  water  in  all  imaginable  proportions,  kinds, 
quantities,  and  degrees  ;  and  thus  they  manufacture  what  they 
call  wine,  sell  for  wine,  and  export  to  the  United  States  for 
wine. 

"FAMILY  SECRETS.  —  The  president  of  the  tariff  commission, 
Monsieur  Pouzer-Quertier,  made  a  speech  (in  the  Senate),  in  which 
he  set  forth  the  true  condition  of  France,  and  appealed  to  his 
colleagues  to  meet  the  tariff  question  fairly.  He  said,  p.  133,  'I 
have  seen  on  the  quays  of  Bordeaux,  and  I  believe  I  can  see  the 
same  to-day,  a  quantity  of  wines  of  Spain  which  had  come  to 
the  borders  of  the  Garonne.  I  asked  of  the  Bordelais,  if,  per- 
chance, these  wines,  worth  only  eighty  or  eighty-five  francs  per 
hectoliter,  had  not  come  to  Bordeaux  to  breathe  the  air  of 
Garonne,  and  be  transformed  into  Medoc. 

" '  This  represents  a  certain  benefit  ;  for  one  must  admit  that 
this  wine  contains  alcohol  to  fifteen  degrees,  and  that,  with  one 
barrel  of  it  and  one  of  the  water  of  the  Garonne,  they  make  two  barrels 
of  wine.'  At  this,  the  minister  of  agriculture  and  commerce  takes 
fire.  Hear  him.  '  I  remark  to  the  Hon.  M.  Pouzer-Quertier,  that 
it  is  a  singular  fashion  to  defend  the  industries  of  a  great  country 
like  France  to  come  here  and  tell,  apropos  of  our  wines,  of  the 
melanges  which  are  made  with  the  water,  the  mixing  .  .  .  [prot- 
estations from  divers  benches],  and  to  come  here  TO  THUS  DIS- 
CREDIT IN  THIS  TRIBUNE  THE  FRENCH  PRODUCTS  DESTINED  FOR 
FOREIGN  COUNTRIES. 

"  'In  truth  it  is  a  singular  fashion  for  him  to  proceed  [more  inter- 
ruptions]. You  understand  that  since  two  or  three  years,  either 
from  phylloxera,  from  frost,  or  from  dropping  of  the  fruit,  we  have 
descended  from  an  annual  production  of  sixty  million  hectoliters 
to  twenty-eight  million.  It  is  incontestable  that  we  have  not 
produced  the  same  quantity  of  wine  ;  and,  although  we  may  add 
water,  it  is  still  necessary  to  seek  in  foreign  countries  that  which 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,     FAYETTEVILLE,    H.C. 


we  have  lost.'1  Mr.  Wilson  continues,  "I  have  shown  enough 
to  raise  a  presumption  of  its  wholesale  manufacture. 

"I  have  shown,  (i)  the  failure  of  the  crop  sufficient  to  produce 
a  famine  ;  (2)  no  diminution  in  either  consumption  or  exportation  ; 
(3)  no  corresponding  increase  in  price ;  (4)  an  immense  increase 
in  importation  of  the  (known  to  be)  heavy  wines  of  Spain  and 
Italy ;  and  (5)  the  entire  making  of  the  crop  of  raisin-wine,  the 
two  latter  being  in  sufficient  quantities  in  the  aggregate  to  make 
good  the  deficit ;  (6)  that  the  charge  of  this  wholesale  manufacture 
was  made  publicly  in  the  Senate  of  France,  and  several  senators 
shouted,  in  support  of  it,  that  '  all  the  world  knew  it  to  be  so ; ' 
(7)  the  minister  of  agriculture  and  commerce,  replying  to  the 
senator,  did  not  deny  the  charge,  but  upbraided  the  senator  for 
making  it,  and  said,  if  it  was  true,  it  had  its  justification.  ...  A 
French  chemist  once  said,  'Wine  is  a  mixture  of  alcohol  and 
sugar  and  water ;  but,'  added  he,  '  mixing  alcohol  and  sugar  and 
water  will  not  make  wine.'  .  .  .  Wine  has  been  falsified  and  adul- 
terated in  all  ages  ;  but,  until  twenty  years  ago,  it  was  done  so 
clumsily,  that  its  detection  was  easy.  Most  wine-dealers  would 
detect  it  by  the  taste,  or,  if  not,  at  the  expense  of  a  piece  of  cream- 
of-tartar. 

"  All  this  has  been  changed.  Now  the  falsificators  profit  by  and 
make  use  of  all  the  progress  of  modern  chemistry ;  and  the  art  of 
making  wine  without  the  juice  of  the  grape  has  attained  such  a 
degree  of  perfection  and  skill,  that  experts,  epicures,  and  chemists 
alike  are  baffled,  and  hesitate  before  pronouncing. 

"M.  Girard,  director  of  the  Laboratoire  Municipal  at  Paris,  prob- 
ably the  foremost  authority  in  Europe  or  the  world,  says  in  his 
official  report,  amongst  other  things  denunciatory  of  wholesale 
adulteration,  '  After  attempting  to  pass  a  large  quantity  of  water 
under  the  name  of  wine,  they  add  to  the  mouillage  the  alcohol  of 
an  inferior  quality  of  potatoes  or  beets,  which  contains  alcohol 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    M.C. 


AMYLIQUE,  which  produces  a  drunkenness  far  worse  than  that  pro- 
duced by  the  alcohol  of  wine.  These,  with  all  their  ramifications, 
are  not  the  only  falsifications  :  the  body,  the  aroma,  the  bouquet, 
of  the  finest  qualities  of  grand  wines,  are  imitated  on  a  large 
scale  by  scientific  process.  .  .  .  Each  day  the  chemist  is  met  by 
new  difficulties.  He  is  obliged  to  labor  without  cessation  to  per- 
fect his  methods  to  combat  those  who  dishonor  science  by  using 
her  to  perpetrate  frauds.' 

"...  This  inspection  was  principally  for  wines  colored  with 
fuclisine,  it  being  known  or  determined  that  no  combination  of  that 
article  but  was  po isonous. 

The  result  of  that  inspection  was  as  follows  :  — 
Number  of  establishments  inspected,  300  :  number  of  hectoliters  confis- 
cated, 3,307  (or  about  85,000  gallons),  all  being  vr\ne  fuchsine ;  proportion 
of  samples  found  bad,  59  to  1 7  per  cent ;  not  poison,  2,309  samples ;  poison, 
977  samples. 

"Can  it  be  wondered  that  'insanity  from  alcoholism  has  in- 
creased from  seven  to  fourteen  per  cent,'  or  double  ?  " — Report  of 
Minister  of  Justice. 

These  extracts  tally  entirely  with  the  reports  of  the  consuls  at 
La  Rochelle  and  other  wine  ports  of  France. 

If  forty  per  cent  of  the  wines  sold  in  Paris  are  poisonous,  as  per 
report  of  Inspector,  is  it  not  safe  to  assume  that  at  least  an  equal 
proportion  of  that  exported  to  foreign  countries  properly  ranks 
under  the  same  head  ? 

[New- York  Evening  Post,  Feb.  9.] 

CALIFORNIA  WINES. 

THE  trade  journals  are  again  directing  attention  to  the  fact  that 
a  large  proportion  of  wine  sold  in  this  country  as  foreign  wine  is 
produced  in  California,  and  sold  in  bottles  labelled  with  imitation 

33 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


foreign  labels.  A  Beaver-street  wine-merchant  said  yesterday,  in 
speaking  of  the  matter,  "The  chief  trouble  is,  that  the  middle- 
men, the  wholesale  wine-merchants,  who  buy  from  the  wine-maker, 
and  sell  to  the  retailer,  are  interested  in  keeping  up  the  deception ; 
because  by  means  of  it  they  are  enabled  to  buy  cheap,  and  sell 
dear.  It  is  to  their  advantage  to  cry  down  American  wines  as 
inferior  to  foreign  products  ;  and,  when  one  tries  to  sell  American 
wines  for  what  they  really  are,  he  finds  more  opposition  from  the 
men  who  sell  American  wines  under  foreign  names  than  from  the 
few  houses  which  really  deal  in  foreign  products.  Every  possible 
trick  is  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  disguising  the  fact  that  the 
wine  sold  is  California  wine.  Even  in  San  Francisco,  where  some 
local  pride  might  be  expected  to  help  the  sale  of  native  wines, 
they  are  bottled,  and  sold  largely  with  French  labels,  some  being 
imitations  of  labels  of  celebrated  houses,  and  others  being  more 
innocent  of  deception,  because  they  do  not  steal  trade-marks." 
Since  the  passage  of  an  Act  imposing  a  fine  of  five  hundred  dollars 
for  selling  wine  with  forged  labels,  the  fraud  is  carried  on  more 
carefully ;  and  cases  of  bottles  are  sent  by  wine-merchants  to  retail 
dealers  without  labels,  and  the  labels  are  sent  separately,  and  are 
pasted  on  according  to  the  demands  of  customers.  One  case  of 
American  wine  can  by  this  system  make  a  label  do  service  for 
half  a  dozen  French  brands.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  according 
to  a  letter  recently  published  in  the  "  Wine  and  Fruit  Grower," 
what  is  sold  as  French  wine  in  California  is  made  there.  The 
immense  profit  in  deception  is  what  keeps  it  up.  The  effect  is 
detrimental  to  wine-makers,  who  do  not  reap  any  advantage  from 
the  increased  consumption  of  their  wines.  I  have  seen  in  the 
bottling-rooms  of  California  wine-merchants  small  mountains  of 
bottles,  out  of  which  very  few  could  be  picked  which  were  not 
ornamented  with  spurious  labels.  The  manager  of  an  establish- 
ment said  to  me,  "  These  bottles  come  from  all  parts  of  the  State. 

34 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


You  see  that  they  all  have  foreign  labels,  and  doubtless  their 
contents  were  sold  as  imported  wine."  Taking  up  a  bottle  indis- 
criminately, I  read  such  labels  as  "Cantenac  Medoc,  1864,  D. 
Misett,  Bordeaux  ; "  "  Margaud  Medoc,  F.  Keppler  &  Cie,  Bor- 
deaux." A  San  Francisco  bottle  of  Sauterne  was  branded  on  the 
cork,  "Pouget  Fils,  Bordeaux."  It  was  a  genuine  bottle,  and  had 
a  San  Francisco  label  of  "  Cantenac,  Pouget  Fils,  Bordeaux."  On 
a  California-made  bottle  was  a  label  of  what  purported  to  be  Ger- 
man Hock.  "Rouen  Thaler,  F.  Weller  &  Co.,  Maenz,"  was  stuck 
on  a  Fench  Claret  bottle.  An  imitation  of  a  Chateau  La  Rose 
label  could  be  bought  in  San  Francisco  at  seven  dollars  a  thousand. 
There  might  be  read  on  a  good  many  a  facsimile  of  the  "  Due  de 
Montebello."  The  label  might  be  seen  on  a  California  bottle,  and 
on  another  a  label  of  an  imaginary  firm,  "  E.  Blossiear  &  Cie, 
Rhiems." 

A  dealer  in  nothing  but  California  wines,  who  sells  them  as 
such,  and  is  trying  to  educate  the  public  taste  to  like  it  under  its 
true  name,  said  the  California  wine-blenders  have  themselves  to 
thank  for  the  present  conditions  of  affairs.  Instead  of  devoting 
themselves  to  making  a  pure  wine,  they  attempted  to  try  all  kinds 
of  devices  to  imitate  European  wines  in  color  and  flavor,  and  thus 
played  directly  into  the  hands  of  the  importers.  As  to  the  fact 
that  an  enormous  quantity  of  California  wine  is  sold  under  foreign 
labels,  there  is  no  doubt  of  it  whatever.  Any  wine-merchant  will 
admit  that  not  one-twentieth  of  the  wine  sold  to  consumers  in 
this  country  in  1880  was  sold  as  American.  Four  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  gallons  were  sold  in  one  month  to  foreign  importing 
houses  in  this  city,  —  a  hundred  thousand  gallons  to  a  Spanish 
firm,  who  would  deny  point  blank  having  any  thing  to  do  with  such 
"  stuff "  as  American  wine.  The  only  remedy  is  for  wine-producers 
to  establish  their  own  agencies,  and  create  a  demand  for  native 
wines. 

35 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    H.C. 

[American  Wine  and  Grape  Grower.] 

AMERICAN   WINES. 

IF  there  were  needed  any  sufficient  reason  for  Americans  to 
look  with  favor  upon  the  products  of  their  own  native  vineyards, 
and  with  disfavor  upon  foreign  wines,  the  fact  that  our  wines  are 
the  pure  juice  of  the  grape,  and  foreign  wines  impure  and  sophis- 
ticated abominations,  should  furnish  that  reason.  American  wine- 
manufacture  is  a  new  art,  but  even  at  this  early  day  our  product 
has  reached  to  one-half  of  our  consumption.  Last  year  we  made 
six  million  gallons,  and  imported  precisely  the  same  quantity.  Un- 
fortunately, so  persistently  prejudiced  are  the  American  people  in 
favor  of  imported  foreign  products,  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
American-made  wines  are  sold  as  choice  foreign  kinds,  with  false 
brands  upon  them.  The  bulk  of  the  real  foreign  wines  is  vastly 
inferior.  But  "  who  hath  believed  our  report  "  when  we  have 
reiterated  time  and  again  this  fact  ?  And  now  we  have  some  fresh 
evidence  of  the  same  sort,  only,  so  to  speak,  "more  so."  It  comes 
from  foreign  parts,  and  is  imported  direct  from  Paris,  and  should 
therefore  be  received  at  least  with  as  much  confidence  as  the 
French  wines  themselves.  This  report,  taken  from  statistics  of 
the  Paris  Municipal  Laboratory,  where  the  food  analyses  required 
by  law  are  made,  shows  among  other  facts  that  in  the  month  of 
June  455  samples  of  wine  were  examined;  and  of  these  but  14 
were  found  to  be  good,  123  were  reported  tolerable,  and  318  bad. 
Of  455  samples,  but  14  were  good.  If  the  French  people  thus 
treat  themselves,  what  consideration  might  a  foreigner  expect,  and 
how  many  samples  of  real  imported  wines  (excluding  the  American 
sold  for  foreign)  might  be  found  to  be  even  tolerable,  and  without 
any  distinct  shade  of  goodness  at  all  ? 


TOKAY    VINEYARD,    FAYETTEVILLE,    N.C. 


[New- York  Star,  June  9,  1883.] 

BAD   WINE. 

IT  appears  that  the  consumption  of  wine  in  England  has  fallen 
off  four  and  a  half  million  gallons  in  seven  years.  In  1876  it 
amounted  to  eighteen  and  a  half  million  gallons  ;  but  last  year  it 
had  dropped  to  fourteen  million.  The  chief  cause  of  this  marked 
decline  is  said  to  be  the  deterioration  of  the  wines  in  quality. 
They  are  doctored  too  much.  The  adulterations  are  not  only 
deleterious,  but  patent  and  offensive.  It  has  been  said  more  than 
once  in  England,  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  get  pure  Port 
wine,  were  a  man  to  see  it  made  at  the  vineyard,  and  shipped  for 
home,  riding  all  the  way  on  the  head  of  the  cask.  However  that 
may  be,  the  fact  that  many  of  the  costly  wines  of  England  are 
badly  adulterated  is  well  known  there  and  here  ;  while  the  cheap 
wines  fare  better,  because  it  does  not  pay  to  adulterate  them.  It 
would  be  strange  indeed  if  the  adulteration  of  wines  and  liquors 
should  stop  their  sale,  and  encourage  temperance.  But  the  facts 
look  in  that  direction. 


37 


PRESS  OF 

RAND,    A  VERY,    &    CO., 
BOSTON,   MASS. 


